European Aluminium, the voice of the European aluminium value chain, welcomes the European Commission's final confirmation of the definitive antidumping duties needed to counteract the impact of Chinese dumping of flat-rolled products on the EU market. Accordingly, European Aluminium strongly opposes the contradictory 9-month suspension of these duties officially announced by the European Commission. European Aluminium is ready to pursue all available avenues to fight the unjustified suspension of the long-overdue trade defence measures.

The European Commission's Definitive Findings in the anti-dumping investigation into certain aluminium flat-rolled products (FRP, case AD668) clearly confirmed that China practices injurious dumping of aluminium FRPs on the EU market, causing significant material injury to EU producers. Definitive anti-dumping duties are set at 14% to 25% to raise China's dumped prices to market-conform prices. However, the duties, which were greenlighted by the EU Member States and set to be implemented on 12 October 2021, are now suspended for 9 months.

Setting a dangerous precedent for trade defence cases in other sectors, the suspension sends the wrong signal to both international trade partners and China regarding the EU's commitment to fighting unfairtrade practices.

The suspension will have a devastating impact on the EU aluminium value chain, even beyond the suspension period. Tens of thousands of EU jobs and EU investments into decarbonisation and recycling are at risk. Besides the long-term economic blow, the suspension will give a carte blanche to China's dumped high-carbon aluminium imports, while the European aluminium industry has proven to hold sufficient capacity to supply Europe's aluminium demand with more sustainable aluminium.1

The products subject to the provisional duties are aluminium products, flat rolled, whether or not alloyed, whether or not further worked than flat rolled, not backed, without internal layers of other material:

• in coils or in coiled strips, in cut-to-length sheets, or in the form of circles; of a thickness of 0,2 mm or more but not more than 6 mm;

• in plates, of a thickness of more than 6 mm;

• in coils or coiled strips of a thickness of not less than 0.03 mm but less than 0.2 mm.

Excluded are beverage canstock, bodypanels for the car industry and aluminium used in the manufacture of aircraft parts.

The main applications of the products concerned are the building and construction sector, foil sector, technical applications, transport sector and consumer durables.

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Strategic Research Institute

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